


Dancing Thin

by JiminWreckedSugaBias



Series: Maknae Line Hurt/Comfort Fics [29]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Chenle pulled a Jisung, Eating Disorders, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Jaemin is protective af, Light Angst, Mentioned Bang Chan, Park Jisung (NCT)-centric, Protective Felix, Protective Hyungs, Protective boyfriend Jeongin, Protective mom taeyong, kind of, overuse of the name baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 17:49:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18393350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JiminWreckedSugaBias/pseuds/JiminWreckedSugaBias
Summary: Chubby.That's what they kept calling him, and he can't deny that it hurt no matter how much he knew it wasn't true.He knew he was young and he still had what people called “baby fat,” but he didn't want the baby fat.ORJisung gets bullied online and by the other members of Dancing high and ends up on his boyfriend's lap in the living room of his dorm where his hyungs hold a meeting (read: intervention).





	Dancing Thin

**Author's Note:**

  * For [straykidsrdorks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/straykidsrdorks/gifts), [Aira_Loves_Herself](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aira_Loves_Herself/gifts), [chessy472003](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chessy472003/gifts).



> Hello hello hello
> 
> There are actually two parts to this fanfiction, and I'm terribly sorry for doing this, but I literally have thirty requests from you guys (I love it, don't get me wrong) but when it comes to multiple requests for the same maknae of the same group with a plot that I can easily mix? I can't resist giving myself a bit of a challenge. 
> 
> The original and first request for this fic came from straykidsrdorks, who requested a Jisung-centric where he was worried about too much baby fat and tries to lose weight. 
> 
> Secondary request was from Aira_Loves_Herself, who requested Jisung introducing Jeongin to NCT (it's a bit backwards in this, but I hope it works! Let me know!)
> 
> And chessy472003 requested a Jisung-centric angst fic, so I tried my best to put it in here!
> 
> I hope you guys like it!!

He knew he shouldn't. 

 

He knew he was underweight to begin with, but he couldn't stop thinking about it. 

 

_ “What's with the chub?”  _

 

_ “How much do you eat, oh my god.” _

 

_ “No wonder he's weighing us down, he's got more chub than my five year old brother.” _

 

Chubby. 

 

That's what they kept calling him, and he can't deny that it hurt no matter how much he knew it wasn't true. 

 

He wouldn't say that joining Dancing High was his worst decision, but it does make the top five. 

 

He knew he was young and he still had what people called “baby fat,” but he didn't  _ want _ the baby fat. 

 

Sure, it made him cute, but he's seen the comments online too. 

 

_ “Omg how does he dance with all the extra fat?” _

 

_ “Lol he's a dancer? How does he keep up? I would imagine the extra weight would slow him down” _

 

_ “Maybe he should do the group a favor and quit lol he's holding them back, they could be so much better” _

 

_ “Chenle would be a better maknae” _

 

That's when he stopped reading. 

 

And stopped eating. 

 

When they somehow managed to force him to the table to eat something, he finished half of it very slowly, drank water in between bites, and left early because he wanted to get some rest to prepare for more Dancing High practice. 

 

He had learned how to make himself throw up that night. 

 

He would do that every time they would find time to pass him a high calorie snack or in the rare event they got to go out to eat at a restaurant. 

 

His hyungs took notice, of course. Definitely. 

 

But he somehow managed to dodge their questions by keeping himself busy away from the dorm between schedules, leaving no room for them to corner him.

 

He was surprised when no one told Jeongin, but he was also glad. Sure, he felt bad about not telling Jeongin, but he didn't want to push his own troubles onto the boy when he knew that his boyfriend had enough to deal with. 

 

Let's just say Jisung's hyungs were VERY confused about nine different gift baskets being delivered over the course of the week after Jisung had contacted Felix. 

 

Haechan had thrown a near tantrum when the fifth and sixth ones arrived, signed by Minho and Jisung, demanding to know why seemingly everyone in Stray Kids was sending him thank you gift baskets. 

 

Jisung embarrassingly explained that he had tipped off Felix that Jeongin was showing concerning signs of self hate and wouldn't tell his hyungs, and after that they simply let him know when the next ones arrived. 

 

So them not telling Jeongin or someone in Stray Kids about Jisung's behavior, or just not confronting him themselves, was a bit suspicious. 

 

However, he had been lucky enough to get away with two months, and should have known that any longer would have been too good to be true. 

 

One day when most of the hyungs were out of the house, he found himself in the bathroom; door locked and shower going. 

 

With tears in his eyes, he stepped on the scale and felt his stomach drop. 

 

55kg. 

 

He was underweight, he knew that logically. So why did the number make him nauseous?

 

He put the scale away and sat on the side of the tub before burying his face in his hands, shoulders starting to shake as he tried to hold back his sobs. 

 

“Sungie?” The maknae gasped as his head shot up and looked at the door at the sound of Haechan's voice. 

 

“Yes h-hyung?” His mentally scolded himself for not being able to control the small shake in his voice, because now he could only hope that the older on the other side of the door hadn't heard it. 

 

“Sung, are you crying? Open the door for hyung, please.” 

 

Hope lost. 

 

“I-I'm fine hyung-”

 

“Liar.” 

 

Jisung sat in silence, glad that the door was still locked. He didn't know what to reply with, and Haechan seemed to be just waiting for a response. 

 

Maybe if he was silent long enough, he would just leave?

 

“What's going on?” Jisung paled a bit at the sound of his fellow maknae's voice. He could never hide anything from him, the slightly older seemed to always know. 

 

“Jisung sounds like he's been crying and he was lying when he said he was fine.” Haechan replied, but Jisung could barely hear them since there was a door between him and the other two. 

 

There was silence for a few seconds before there was a clicking sound. He was confused for a second before his eyes widened as he realized what the sound was. 

 

Chenle had the key.

 

Jisung quickly thought of some kind of excuse that the others would buy, desperate to not tell the truth. 

 

He didn't even know why he didn't want them to know. He knew that the thoughts he was having were dangerous, so why couldn't he just seek out help before it got out of hand, like he's sure it would like it has in the past when it came to Dancing High.

 

He was still thinking when Chenle opened the door and slowly walked in, his steps cautious, followed by a very concerned Haechan. 

 

As soon as Chenle saw Jisung's eyes, he knew the look. 

 

The look of a caged animal. 

 

Chenle figured it was the same look he had when he had been confronted about his math teacher. 

 

“Sungie…” he said before sitting on the floor in front of him, giving him about three feet of space (their bathroom was spacious, had to be with all the members that lived in the dorm). 

 

“I-It's nothing, h-headache.” he said, and goddammit why couldn't he stop stuttering?!

 

“Please stop lying to me, baby.” Chenle said with sad eyes. 

 

“'m not…” 

 

“Yes you are baby…” Chenle said and got out his phone, checking his contacts. 

 

“W-What are you doing?” Jisung asked with wide eyes. 

 

“If you can't tell me, I know Stray Kids has a day off today. Me and Felix were going to hang out, I can have Jeongin here in less than-” 

 

“NO!” 

 

Chenle looked up in surprise as the sudden outburst, and he felt his heart break at the panicked look in his fellow maknae's eyes. 

 

“Baby, you have to talk to me. You obviously aren't okay.” 

 

“D-Don't tell Innie…” 

 

“Baby, if something is wrong and you need help, he should know. We know you go to him with a lot of things you might not come to us with.” 

 

“D-Didn't go to him with this…” he said, not wanting to say more in fear that he would press call on the spot. 

 

“Baby, do you remember when Jeongin didn't want to tell his hyungs about his depression so you called Felix?” 

 

“Y-Yeah?” Jisung didn't know where this was going, but he didn't like it. 

 

Chenle didn't reply, he just pressed a button on his phone and held it to his ear, Jisung's heart falling to his stomach in fear. 

 

“Felix hyung, it's Chenle,” 

 

Chenle had kept talking, but Jisung couldn't hear. Haechan was standing in the doorway until he couldn't stand to see his maknae this sad. 

 

He carefully moved around the small Chinese boy sitting on the floor and moved to sit behind his maknae. 

 

“Is touch okay, Sungie?” It took a while for Jisung to register the question. He nodded, figuring there wasn't anything else to fight for at this point, and let Haechan pull him into the older's lap. 

 

He leaned against him and closed his eyes, but a tap on his knee pulled them open again. 

 

“Don't go to sleep, aegi. Jeongin is on his way with Felix. You can tell us now or you can tell us later with Jeongin.” 

 

Jisung sighed and shrugged. “Don't want to.” 

 

“So later, so you don't have to repeat it more than you have to.” Jisung shrugged in response to Chenle, not knowing what to really say. 

 

\---

 

The entire time it took for Jeongin and Felix to get to the dorm, the three sat on the bathroom floor and Chenle had even shunned away Jaemin when he came around wanting to know what was wrong, the second youngest promising it would be explained later. 

 

It didn’t really take that long, Jisung hadn’t even heard the knock on the door, the footsteps of the two from the other group, or seen Jeongin take Chenle’s spot on the floor in front of him. 

 

“Sungie…” Jisung snapped out of his trance and looked up, seeing Jeongin for the first time in a while. 

 

He had to admit. The boy looked good with red hair. 

 

“Sung,” his eyes flicked up to Chenle when he spoke, “the rest of Dream is home, and Taeyong just got here. Do you want to tell Jeongin first, or tell everyone at once?” 

 

“You know my answer.” Jisung said as he looked at the floor.

 

“I do, just as much as you know that I need an answer from one of the two options I gave you.” 

 

Jisung had never heard Chenle so serious, and maybe that’s what got him to comply. 

 

Either that or it was the mistake Jisung made of looking at Jeongin’s puppy eyes. 

 

Probably both. 

 

He looked at Jeongin with apologetic eyes. “Do you mind if I just do it all at once? I don’t think I can handle going over it twice…” 

 

“Of course it’s okay, love.” Jeongin said before pressing a short kiss to the other’s head. 

 

“Can I… nevermind…” 

 

“Baby, what is it?” Jeongin asked, now looking concerned. Jisung took a deep breath before continuing, his cheeks flushing. 

 

“Can I sit in your lap… while I explain?” His blush deepened when not only Jeongin cooed at him, but also Chenle, Haechan, and also Felix (who Jisung had honestly forgotten was there whoops). 

 

“Of course, baby, I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He said before leaning forward and pulling the younger into his own lap so that the younger had his legs wrapped around the other maknae’s waist, making Jisung let out a high pitched yelp of surprise.

 

He buried his face in his boyfriend’s shoulder as he felt his blush deepen at the laughs that filled the bathroom, a pout forming on his face. 

 

“Innie~” he whined, and he wrapped his limbs around the other when he felt Jeongin starting to stand up. 

 

“I’m here.” He said, and those two simple words made Jisung relax just enough to withstand the small journey to the living room.

 

But only just enough for that. 

 

“Maybe I can just tell them tomorrow, I’m really-” 

 

“Sorry baby.” Jeongin said before placing a kiss on the top of the younger maknae’s head and tightening his hold a bit when Jisung started to struggle a bit. 

 

The quiet chatter that had been going on in the living room came to an abrupt halt when Jeongin walked in, and Jisung could have sworn he heard someone (probably Renjun) coo at the sight of his maknae being carried by Jeongin. 

 

Once they were all seated (Taeyong had been nice and made sure the sofa was all for Jeongin, Jisung, Chenle, Haechan, and Felix, and they all fit nicely since Jisung was in a lap), Taeyong cleared his throat. 

 

“Sungie, I don’t know much about what’s going on, Chenle only said that you needed to tell us something important.” 

 

Jisung glared at Chenle a bit from his spot on Jeongin, the slightly older shrugging. 

 

“Sung,” Mark said, “you can stay on his lap, but can you at least sit facing us?” 

 

“Um… no?” Jisung tried, turning his head to show him what he hoped was an innocent smile, but from the look of the older’s face it didn’t work. 

 

“I think you know it wasn’t a question, nice try though.” Jisung pouted and slowly turned around in his spot, Jeongin quickly adapting to the new position and wrapped his arms protectively around Jisung’s waist. 

 

“You can start whenever and however you feel comfortable.” Taeyong said, nothing but patience in his voice. Jisung fought back a sarcastic remark as he just thought of how to start this. 

 

He looked around as he thought. Felix was on his left, Chenle on the other side of the Aussie, and Haechan on his right. 

 

Felix gave an encouraging smile, one that Jisung returned with a smaller smile of his own before closing his, facing the rest of the room and taking a deep breath.

 

“I’ve… been having a difficult time recently…” he let out a shaky breath, focusing on the feeling of Jeongin’s hold on him, and the way his chest would rise and fall steadily. 

 

“I let some comments from people get to me, not just online ones… and…” 

 

He didn’t want to.

 

He didn’t want to tell everyone in the room, the people he loved and supported and who loved and supported him, what was really going on. 

 

“Baby, it’s okay. We’re all here for you.” Jeongin said, pulling the boy closer to him and pressing a light kiss to his shoulder. 

 

It gave Jisung a bit of courage. 

 

“The comments online were easy enough to ignore, I don’t really care about what people behind a screen have to say when they don’t know me. But… they got harder to ignore when people that I knew and were supposed to support me started saying those things too.” 

 

“Aegi, who was?” Taeyong asked, but from the sound of his voice, he already knew. 

 

“Dancing High. I don’t know which started first, them or the online comments. Maybe they started at the same time.”

 

“Baby, what were they saying?” Chenle asked, and Jisung felt tears form, threatening to fall. 

 

“T-They were saying that I was fat. They asked how I could dance with the extra weight, even Dancing High would say that I weighed you guys down in more ways than one.” His tears were falling with his words, and he felt Jeongin’s arms tighten around him. 

 

He glanced around the room and saw that everyone looked either murderous or more concerned than before. Taeyong semed to pull off both. 

 

Jaemin shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat, making the everyone look at him.

 

“I…” He cleared his throat again, awkwardly shifting before continuing. “One night I was woken up by the sound of someone being sick, so I went to see who. Jisungie was just leaving the bathroom, and when I asked he said that he just ate too much and he felt better. I didn’t think much of it because it was really late and I was still kind of asleep, but I don’t remember him eating more than half his plate.” 

 

There was silence in the living room as everyone processed what was said. Jisung just wished he could disappear within the silence so he could avoid the entire conversation that was to happen after this. 

 

But of course, fate was not on his side. 

 

“Jisungie, were you making yourself throw up?” Felix asked quietly, being the only one brave enough to break the silence. 

 

“Yeah…” 

 

Jisung felt Jeongin’s arms tighten around him, and a wetness started forming on his shoulder. 

 

Jeongin was crying. 

 

The thought of Jeongin crying because of him made Jisung’s tears multiply, a sob ripping from his body painfully as he tried to curl in on himself. 

 

“I-I’m so-orry!” Jisung’s words were broken up by another sob shaking his body, and Jeongin’s arms started moving the boy sideways in his lap, leaning him against the slightly older’s chest. 

 

“Sungie, it’s okay baby, you’re okay, you’re safe with us.” Jeongin said to him, rocking the boy in his lap slowly.

 

Jisung vaguely realized that he was barely breathing between his sobs, and he was technically hyperventilating at this point. He knew he had to calm down, but the point of calm seemed so far away. 

 

Jisung could feel movement come from behind him before a figure appeared next to him (technically in front? Jisung didn’t know, he was sideways on his boyfriend’s lap and concentrating was hard). 

 

“Sungie, try this for me.” Oh it was Felix. “Breathe in for four seconds, hold it for four seconds, breathe out for four seconds, hold for four seconds, and then repeat. Do you think you can?” 

 

Jisung didn’t reply, it seemed complicated, even though he knew it was easy. 

 

“Let’s do it together, baby, ready?” Jeongin didn’t wait for a reply before he started breathing in the pattern Felix had said. 

 

Jisung looked at his boyfriend before closing his eyes, focusing on how he was breathing and started matching his own. 

 

It took a while, but Jisung was slowly getting better. His breathing was getting more regular and everything was less fuzzy. 

 

“You’re doing really good baby.” Jisung hummed quietly at the praise before taking one finally deep breath and sitting up a bit straighter. 

 

The reality of what happened hit Jisung like a ton of bricks and his cheeks flushed red and he hid his face in Jeongin’s shoulder again. 

 

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

 

“Embarrassed…” the answer was mumbled, but Jeongin heard it just find, rubbing the younger’s back in comfort. 

 

“It’s okay, Sungie, It’s okay. We’re just worried.” Jisung was silent as Jeongin rubbed his back some more, taking some time to calm himself down some more before he turned his head to look back at the others, knowing there was still no way out of the conversation. 

 

Everyone in the room had tears in their eyes, but no one looked mad, much to Jisung’s relief. 

 

“Sungie, do you think you can continue?” Chenle asked gently, and Jisung nodded. There was no backing out now. 

 

The maknae took a few deep breaths to calm himself further as more anxiety tried to fill his veins. He found the strength to finally speak when he Jeongin placed a kiss on his head, arms tightening around his small frame. 

 

“I started just skipping meals when the comments started getting to me. But then they got a lot worse, and I started to believe them, and soon my own thoughts were telling me the same thing and it was impossible for me to stop. I knew it was dangerous and that I should have told someone, but it was just… it was so hard. Part of me didn’t want help, didn’t think that I needed help, because part of me didn’t think it was even a problem. That part of me thought I was fixing something that needed to be fixed.”

 

He fought back a sob as emotions started swarming and his eyes burned with forming tears. 

 

“I started practicing dances more, a lot more than I should have, and I started staying away from the dorms longer and longer when some of the members started asking questions. When Mark hyung started forcing me to stay for meals or someone would treat us out, that’s when I learned how to make myself… you know. I didn’t do it often, I think I only did it three times within the past two months-”

 

“Two months?” Jisung looked at Taeyong at his question, his voice airy and… scared. 

 

“I’m s-”

 

“Sungie, I don’t want to hear you apologize. Hyung is the one who should apologize for not noticing.” Jisung raised an eyebrow. 

 

“Hyung, we live in two separate dorms, how could you have known?” 

 

“We have practice for Black on Black and we have schedules together for promotions. I knew you were losing weight, but I never noticed how bad it was. Hyung is sorry.” Taeyong looked so distressed that Jisung didn’t have the heart to argue anymore. 

 

“It’s okay, hyung. Really.” Jisung said, and Taeyong didn’t reply anymore. 

 

“Baby, do you want to continue?” Jisung shrugged, not knowing what to really say anymore. 

 

“Sung, how much have you lost?” Mark asked, and Jisung paled, looking away before answering. 

 

“9kg…”

 

There was yet again another silence that went around the room, and was only broken when Chenle took a shaky breath. 

 

“Jisung, how much do you weigh right now?” There was no use fighting anymore. 

 

“51kg.”

 

\---

 

After the discussion with Jeongin, Felix, Taeyong, and all of Dream, they came up with a plan. One that didn’t include management, NCT handled their own issues amongst themselves. 

 

Taeyong relayed the information onto the rest of the other members so that all of them were aware so they could take care of their maknae, and he also called Chan to tell him that he would be stealing his maknae for a while that day. 

 

It took all the rest of the day, but they finally figured out a way to help Jisung get healthy again and try to help him not fall back into bad habits. 

 

Chenle would make sure that Jisung was in bed before the younger went to sleep, and would be the one to wake him up in the morning for breakfast. His food would be portioned the appropriate amount for how much he could handle eating since his stomach had shrunk with the lack of food, and he would eat however much he could without making himself sick. 

 

Someone would stick to him after they ate to make sure he wouldn’t throw it up again and Jisung promised to tell someone when he got the urge to so they could distract him. 

 

Jeongin made Jisung promise him that he would message or call him if he ever felt bad so they could talk until Jisung didn’t feel bad anymore, or at least felt okay enough to continue with his day. 

 

However that was only when their schedules permitted. They agreed that if Jeongin didn’t answer his phone or texts, to just keep texting him messages for Jeongin to reply to later and they would make a phone tag game out of it. 

 

Taeyong did say, however, that if Jisung didn’t show any signs of improving within the next month that he would have to tell management so they could get him in to see a therapist so it didn’t get too out of hand that the group itself couldn’t help with. 

 

Jisung agreed, because he knew the leader wouldn’t take no for an answer, and he was also scared of what could happen if he didn’t get better within a month’s time. 

 

By the time the month had passed, Jisung had gained back half of what he had lost (their company thought it would be a great time to increase everyone’s dance practice schedules to double what they were, which meant less time for everyone to eat so no one blamed him). 

 

He was really proud of himself, and so was everyone else. He swore his face would be a permanent tomato after so many praises from his members. 

 

However it didn’t even begin to compare to the feeling of his heart bursting whenever he got a praise from his boyfriend, the warm feeling in his chest when the older took the time to talk to him about his day and listen to him when he was having a bad day, and felt even better when the older would offer advice. 

 

It was finally another day that both Dream and Stray Kids had off, and Jeongin was over at the dorm again. 

 

This time, however, was more awkward. 

 

How? 

 

Everyone was now only focused on Jeongin, and said boy was blushing just as bad as Jisung as they listened to them being protective. 

 

Everything was going great despite the overwhelming Hyung vibe that everyone put off, including Chenle despite Jeongin being older than him. 

 

All of them were eager to get to know who their maknae was going out with a little better, and Jeongin was happy to get to know the people who take care of his boyfriend so well. 

 

However...

 

“I hope you know that I won’t hesitate to skin you if you ever hurt our precious maknae.” Jaemin said, his voice lower than it ever has before, but Jisung wanted to crawl into a hole when his hyung said it. 

 

He looked pleadingly at Jaemin as Jeongin put his hands up in fake surrender, but rolled his eyes when he saw that the older boy still had a small glimmer in his eyes. 

 

Which meant Jaemin was only half serious. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Requests open, but please be aware that I'm doing fics that I have inspiration for first in order to get these requests fulfilled a bit faster! 
> 
> Stray Kids - BTS - Astro  
> (Just because it isn't listed here, doesn't mean I won't write a previously requested fic for a fandom that was previously on this list. I'm just trying to get the list of requests moving because some people have been waiting for almost 100 days, I'm sorry guys!)
> 
> I'm gonna be adding two new fandoms to the list soon, so keep your eyes out!!


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